“The Road” (Book Review)
Try to imagine for a moment, waking up to a world that is no longer safe to exist in. A world where your chances of surviving a full 24 hours is less likely than being gutted, cooked, and feasted on by starving cannibals. A world where all humanity has either perished, or transformed into a desperately dark entity forced into making survival the ultimate priority. Well; that world is the backdrop of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize winner masterpiece. I thought McCarthy was a magician of creating emotionally gripping fiction after reading “All the Pretty Horses,” and this novel vindicated that thought. McCarthy’s unique style of story telling definitely throws him into any discussion involving the literary powerhouses of fiction.
The Road is a somber tale of a father and son fighting to survive in a post apocalyptic-like situation. With limited food supply and the constant threat of being cannibalized, or falling victim to the wrath of mother nature; they navigate an ash covered country in hopes of making it to the coast where they hope relief is available. McCarthy has an uncanny ability to pull readers so deep into his fiction that identical emotions are shared by reader and character, in the face of tragic and devastating life experiences. Heart wrenching scenes are a staple of the McCarthy story and this novel has an excess of them. You will read this novel in anticipation of the-end-game from beginning to end. If you are not familiar with Cormac McCarthy’s work this novel will make you an instant fanatic. After No Country for Old Men took home the Oscar for Best Picture in 2008, we have the film representation of this novel to look forward to in the fall, and I have no doubt that this novel will make an equally magnificent film. Read this book!
